I collaborate with institutions — libraries, colleges, local organizations — to forge dynamic collaborations with the communities they serve.
Together, we co-create courses, places, shows, workshops,
films, pop-ups & traditions that
demonstrate:
- cultures of experimentation and risk-taking
- collaboration across roles & titles
- individual growth as a path to institutional growth
Why I Do What I Do
Now more than ever we need resiliant institutions willing to deliver their core values in novel and resourceful ways.
I love working side-by-side with folks inside institutions to co-create change that builds community and celebrates culture.
How I Do It
- Invite Everyone to the Table
- early, often and without agenda
- Find Room in the Margins
- of space and time
- This is Show Business
- not “tell business,” together we are producing hands-on, engaging experiences people choose to take part in
Let's Brainstorm
I love talking through ideas with folks. So if you're excited about something — a notion, an opportunity, and challenge — I'm excited to hear about it. We'll start there and keep it convivial: jeff@buildingways.co & 617.909.2917
If you'd like to learn more, please find my cv and portfolio. And stay tuned, lot's more coming.
What It Looks Like
On Tuesday, March 10th, 2020 at 4:06pm a long email titled “Olin COVID-19 Important Updates” arrived in the inbox of every staff, student and faculty member at Olin College of Engineering. It came from our founding, and recently departed, President, Rick Miller, and was written to inform the community that “students should not plan to return to campus after spring break.”
About an hour later, a brief message came across a very different channel, carpediem@olin.edu — Olin’s student-owned mailing list for last-minute, serendipitous opportunities.
By the time a few students and staff had gathered around a table the next morning, nothing was normal. We were in the Greenhouse, a small creative studio just inside the entrance to our academic building. In the Greenhouse, we grow young ideas, and some plants.
Joining me were Susan Mihailidis, Director of Academic Affairs and Sponsored Programs; Robert Wechsler, Olin’s Artist in Residence; and a quartet of students: Matt Brucker ’20, Ana Krishnan ’20, Evan New-Schmidt ’20, and Sam Kaplan ’24. For these few students who had made it out of bed, emotions ran high. The feelings deserved airtime, and the best thing we could do as staff was to honor them by listening.
After about an hour, a heaviness set in and Susan, a senior member of the administration capable of marshalling support from across the college, was ready to act. “How about a time capsule?” she challenged. As the idea bounced around the room the energy shifted. That’s when Evan ‘20 chimed in: “How about a fake commencement?” Those five words sucked the air out of the room.
Minutes later, we strode over to the Campus Center with giddy purpose to pitch the idea to our Interim Provost and frequent collaborator, Mark Somerville. The Campus Center houses Olin’s only dining hall, which most mornings doubles as Mark’s office. And there he was, on the far side of the room, back to the wall, reliably in his black turtleneck. Ana ‘20 took the lead and pitched the idea as the rest of us looked on. Mark’s reply, “What do you need to make this happen?” gave us the green light to get moving.
Walking back to the Greenhouse, Matt ‘20, who not an hour before was rightly consumed by the shock of a senior spring evaporating, turned with a vigorous grin and a shrug of disbelief, “We’ve got something to do!”
From that moment, a spirit of co-creation swept the campus. Faux-mencement was a community-owned affair. Matt and Ana sent out a pitch-perfect Commencement Announcement that looked like a ransom note. Olin hadn’t rented the caps and gowns yet, so someone found an origami mortar board “how-to” and a decision was made to don garbage bag gowns.
Diplomas that read “☻ congratulætions Olin student💥…” were sent to the Registrar’s Office so names could be matched with almost-earned degrees. After checking and re-checking for accuracy, the faux-diplomas earned the imprimatur of our Registrar, Linda Canavan. Then Adam Novotny ‘21, rubber stamped ‘em with a freshly laser cut “GO Olin!” stamp.
As for Faux-mencement itself, the sincerity was palpable. Emotions were as raw as they were joyful. The Olin Conductorless Orchestra played video game themes as Olin’s leadership marched down the aisle. Somewhere between the candid remarks of the Senior Greeters, the ceremoniously applied hand sanitizer between handshakes and the symbolic sliding of yarn tassels across paper caps, the rite of passage was vivid.
Faux-mencement matters because it was a pure expression of “Olin-ness” at the very moment we needed it most. It was a demonstration of institutional agility and college-scale collaboration that we could be proud of. On the eve of exile we came together to co-create the ritual of closure we could’ve lost. We took commencement back for ourselves, leaving Olin with a story.
